nwFilmCenter

Celebrating the Earth: The Films of Franco Piavoli

Praised by such diverse filmmakers as Bernardo Bertolucci, Stan Brakhage, Godfrey (Koyaanisqatsi) Reggio, and Andrei Tarkovsky, Italian filmmaker Franco Piavoli's films comprise a symphonic suite of cinema pieces in which the sounds and images of nature are like the notes of a musical score. No subtitles are needed, because Piavoli's vocabulary is not learned by reading text or hearing voices, but by watching, listening, feeling, absorbing and remembering. On the 25th anniversary of the release of his BLUE PLANET, we are pleased to screen all four of his features, works that resonate all the more as our perspectives on the environment we share comes into focus with renewed urgency. Special thanks to Giuseppe Bruno-Bossio, Promofest, New York, in collaboration with Provincia di Brescia, Fondazione Banca Agricola Mantovana, and Fondazione Aida, Verona.

Fri, Jul 18, 2008 at 7 PM Sat, Jul 19, 2008 at 7 PM Sun, Jul 20, 2008 at 6 PM	BLUE PLANET DIRECTOR: FRANCO PIAVOLI ITALY Winner of Italy 's Academy Award (Nastro d 'Argento), BLUE PLANET contains images and sounds, meticulously collected and developed over three years, that illustrate the passing of time through the four seasons, through the 24 hours of a day and through the evolutionary existence of the planet itself. The film begins by capturing the simplicity of winter 's thaw into spring and then segues into everyday farm life in the Italian countryside, where a multi-generational family goes about its daily routine of harvesting the land. Piavoli asks us to discard customary expectations about movies and enter into a different frame of mind to appreciate the beautiful panorama of nature and life. Never tendentiously ecological in its message, BLUE PLANET is "in a beautifully understated fashion a warning about what man can do to his own planet." —I. Cohen. "[A] poem, concert, journey into the universe, nature, life . . . Not a documentary . . . truly a different vision."—Andrei Tarkovsky. ( 90 min ) Prints source : promofest@gmail.com ^ Top
Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 7 PM Sat, Jul 26, 2008 at 9 PM	VOICES THROUGH TIME DIRECTOR: FRANCO PIAVOLI ITALY Piavoli 's lyric ode to the cycles of life charts the passages of infancy, youth, maturity and old age against the seasons of the year in the bucolic Lombardy village of Castellaro. The chimes of the clock in the town square punctuate the rhythm of life: birth, the amazements of childhood, the emotional upheavals of adolescence, the first attempts and failures in romance, the dancing, the loving, and the hallmark event of marriage. On that occasion the nostalgia for faded youth unfolds with poetic grace. Inspired by an old Italian folk saying, "Love makes time pass, and time makes love pass," Piavoli observes the rituals of human life in much the same way MICROCOSMOS observed the insect world 's delicate social universe. Rich in sound and glorious images, VOICES THROUGH TIME evocatively shows "the course of life like a river flowing, without whirlpools, without waterfalls, to let people consider the incessant flowing of things, the unstoppable course of time."—Franco Piavoli. ( 85 min ) Prints source : promofest@gmail.com ^ Top
Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 9 PM Sat, Jul 26, 2008 at 7 PM	AT THE FIRST BREATH OF WIND DIRECTOR: FRANCO PIAVOLI ITALY "Franco Piavoli crafts a breathtaking poem from, and to, cinema in this luminous, idyllic evocation of place. The 'story ' generally follows the progression of a sun-drenched afternoon in rural Italy, as a landed family and a group of field laborers alternately pass the day in leisure, reflection and work. However, the film 's most powerful journey is one that takes the viewer inward, plunging headlong into minute incidents that swell with suggestion and reveal an extraordinarily rich, sustained observation of mood, atmosphere, and existential absorption. A young girl observes a boy swimming in a stream. A man slips into a deep, fitful slumber in his library. A woman traverses a cluttered landscape on a search for something untold. Such prosaic scenes fairly shimmer from the screen, as delicate manipulations of sound design, framing, and photographic processes create a seductive undertow, constantly shifting and layering points of view. Haunting and deeply affecting, Piavoli 's film inspires a renewed wonder toward the often-untapped power of its medium."—Sundance Film Festival. ( 89 min ) Prints source : promofest@gmail.com ^ Top
Sun, Jul 27, 2008 at 6 PM Mon, Jul 28, 2008 at 7 PM	NOSTOS, THE RETURN DIRECTOR: FRANCO PIAVOLI ITALY A sumptuous saga of man and nature, NOSTOS chronicles the journey of its title character as he returns home from war. His odyssey, fraught with natural obstacles, is a hero 's journey of mythic proportions, one in which Nostos rediscovers the world and himself. Part poem, part concert, the film mixes the WILD KINGDOM with Greek legend (Ulysses) to produce a work that transcends genres. As in all his films, Piavoli tells his story through the power and beauty of natural imagery underscored by a powerful sound track. "NOSTOS is a visual and aural concerto of our courage, passion and yearning for the truth. It is a journey we must make if we are to survive."—Franco Piavoli. "Even though Piavoli has created his own language and not used subtitles, the film 's dialogue is strangely understandable. The result is mesmerizing cinema—a rich and profoundly moving experience."—Mill Valley Film Festival. ( 87 min ) Prints source : promofest@gmail.com ^ Top